Am I competitive or should I take two gap years instead of one

[MsIDK]

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MCAT: 512, pretty even split between categories
Overall GPA: 3.82
Science GPA: 3.76
College: Prestigious private institution
Volunteer: Warming shelter in town, community friend in town (involvement ranging from 2-4 years)
Clinical Experience: Clinical research assistant at tufts medical eye center for a summer internship
Shadowing experience: One year in ophthalmology, month in E.R
Lab Experience: 2 years working in a lab on campus; several poster presentations and conferences
Work: Peer Writing tutor on my campus
Athletics: 4 years of varsity track and field
Leadership: Senior captain indoor and outdoor

I was planning on taking one gap year (applying this cycle), however reading these forums makes me nervous about what I look like as a candidate for med school. Obviously with my MCAT I am not up for top tier med schools, and that's fine by me. But I hope I would be competitive at mid-tier ones. Can anyone offer any advice? Should I take 2 years off instead to gain more experience? I would prefer one but am open to two.

 

[thegrind33]

Keep in mind a lot of people on this forum are tryhards (no malice to those 4.0s and 520+ers), or students who sweat every detail. Your stats are competitive for medical schools. I bought the MSAR and it really helped me see where I fit compared to a school's matricultants and the accepted students. I have a very similar resume to you and I would say I am going to be competitive for a lot of schools this cycle, best of luck.

 

[oldman]

looking at that list you tick off the check boxes for applying.

 

[WIMNFamilyMed]

Really depends where you’re applying to but it looks like a solid application to get an interview at some schools. In the gap year I would try to add more patient care type experiences - volunteer or work. Ignore that if you feel your experiences like that summer research and some of the volunteering were really patient contact heavy - it’s hard to know without the details.

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

Looks fine. Btw how many hours are we talking in voluenteering and clinical exposure?

 

[kamakazi5]

From your list it looks like you have no actual clinical experience outside of research and shadowing. This should be the area you focus on most but I doubt you need two gap years to get it.

 

[raiderette]

I would start clinical volunteering ASAP. What state do you live in?

 

[Forever Geebs]

Need clinical volunteer experience, which is not the same as shadowing. Target 150 hours. Easily attainable with a gap year.


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